From the moment Gerry Patton enters the Pentagon office of General Mike Mickelson, John Trudel's Soft Target grabs the reader and doesn't turn him loose until the final page. Mike is reassigned to the NSA on a top secret project by the President of the United States. The project has one employee, Ms. Patton, the great-granddaughter of General George Patton. The president is afraid of a coup and a new bioweapon unlike any the world has seen. Mike is one of the few people with unique skills that President Carson Hale can trust with a mission critical to the survival of the nation.

The culprit is a terrorist nation in the Middle East called Bukhari. It is creating a bioweapon that makes the black plague look like the sniffles. In this country, Bukhari is aided by ambitious Senator Harriet Stiles who is working quietly, plotting the overthrow of the government, but first must get a vaccine to counter the disease being developed by Bukhari.

Mike was a special operations Marine destined for a career behind a desk. The president needs his special skills to lead the black operation. Key to the project is an Oregon software company working on an impenetrable program for NSA to allow members of Congress to work from their home. Mike knows nothing of computer operations or of the intricacies of the NSA, but can be trusted. He is sworn to secrecy by the President.

Author John Trudel skillfully weaves a thriller that links the once wheelchair-bound Marine General, his NSA project leader, and a savvy SEAL team assigned to protect them on a chase to Oregon where a Bukhari hit-squad raids a NSA contractor, kidnapping Gerry's father in the process. Then Mike goes to Israel and Saudi Arabia, two countries that help him conduct a clandestine raid on a Bukhari lab where a devastating bioweapon is being created.

In the meantime, Senator Stiles steps up her plot as Mike races against time and the odds of getting out of Bukhari alive.

The story is full of action—terrorists, firefights, and intrigue, with a dash of romance—written in a way that keeps the reader excited and in the heart of the action. Soft Target is a book difficult to put down, and one that will scare the hell out of you.

MWSA Reviewer: Joe Epley (March 2018)

Author's Synopsis

Soft Target: A Cybertech Thriller

The 21st Century started off dangerous and got worse. America is working its way back, wounded, but recovering and rebuilding.

Exceptionalism is a memory, but embers glow in the darkness. Hope is alive. A maverick scientist, GERRY PATTON, works alone behind tight security.

Her wild card project could ensure government survival if Washington was destroyed, but it’s being sabotaged. MIKE MICKELSON (“Twenty Mike”), a Marine, was gravely wounded when his command post in Yemen was overrun. Now unfit for combat, he’s assigned to help Gerry.

Unknown enemies are watching. A bioweapons attack is planned, a coup orchestrated by officials in our own government. Gerry’s program could hamper their plans.

Why take a chance? She’s a Soft Target.

Can Mike save Gerry? Can she help him heal? Can they prevent a paralyzing WMD attack?